How Many Muppets Are There? Thousands?

Next year marks the 55 year anniversary of the Muppets, and it got me thinking...
Out of boredom I went to http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Muppet_Wiki and was randomly looking at all the characters listed simply for the Muppet Show/Muppet brand, Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock, and Bear in the Big Blue House(which itself boasts an insane amount of characters) and was thinking...

How many "Muppet" characters ARE there? If we were to include every single puppet character and background character from say...

I would say that there are hundreds, maybe up to a thousand or two thousand Muppets all together, Disney can't even measure up to that many characters at one time. Although you'd be crazy to count all the Muppets ever created on the Muppet Wiki. If they all came together to celebrate the 55th anniversary of the Muppets, it be extremely crowded!

The creatures from "Labyrinth" and "the Dark Crystal" (is "the Mirror Mask" also one?)

"Eureka's Castle"

"The Puzzle Place"

"Between the Lions"

There was also a show, which premiered on T.V. around 1993 and was shown on Nick Jr. I think it was called "Goober", but I am not sure. If I remember correctly, Goober was a muppet kid who was working at a store for someone. He had a yellow head, orange hair, and wore green clothes.

I do not know if Audrey 2 from "Little Shop of Horrors" or Yoda from "Star Wars" count, but if they do, do not forget them.

Were there muppets on the old T.V. show, "Kidsongs"?

The characters from the toddler shows, "the Hugga Bunch" and "H.R. Pufnstuf", might not count, but if they are muppets, then they do.

By the way, do you mean muppets Jim Henson created or had a part of, or muppets from television shows, movies, and etc all around the world?

I would say that there are hundreds, maybe up to a thousand or two thousand Muppets all together, Disney can't even measure up to that many characters at one time. Although you'd be crazy to count all the Muppets ever created on the Muppet Wiki. If they all came together to celebrate the 55th anniversary of the Muppets, it be extremely crowded!

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I believe under "Muppet characters" alone(strictly relating to The Muppet Show itself, specials, and movies) there's a couple thousand alone listed on the wiki.

By the way, do you mean muppets Jim Henson created or had a part of, or muppets from television shows, movies, and etc all around the world?

Muppetmonster

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I strictly only mean puppet characters that have appeared on Jim Henson Company related shows/specials/appearances 1955-2009(even post Disney buyout of the "Muppets" brand)

I personally would not count shows that Muppet performers have worked on at all(Yoda, Eureka's Castle, Avenue Q) I would include
say, anything under the Henson Alternative brand however, even though it's post Disney buyout; due to the frequent use of
Muppet/Mopatop/City Kids/etc puppets. I would also include Sid the Science Kid, as it retains a distinct Muppet look and it has the Jim Henson company signature.

I would include all tv commercial created characters by the Jim Henson company, from of course Wiltkins and Wonkins, La Choy Dragon and Baskerville hound to Flat Eric and Dominoe's Bad Andy.
And I would Ive begun to now include Dinosaurs as part of Muppetdom instead of strictly "Fantasy Worlds", due to the frequent cameos of Muppet Show and Fraggle Rock characters.

The UK Muppet show "Mopatop" is a great example, along with HA! brand "Puppet Up" of what can happen when puppets from all Henson/Muppet brands are re-used to great effect.

I wouldn't count shows like "Between the Lions", "The Puzzle Place" and "Wimzie's House" as Muppet projects, besides they weren't really created by the Jim Henson Company or Sesame Workshop. Even though they are puppetry shows.

Corey... Have you not been keeping up with my Muppet Listings threads? They answer the very question you posed here, or at least attempt to. This makes me have to shelve my current counting character creations in order to finish the latest version, the 19th one, which I was planning to post this summer precisely for the anniversary.

The Muppet Universe is already 55 years old. You may not realize this, but the very very first Muppet characters were Longhorn, Shorthorn, and Pierre the French Rat who appeared on The Junior Morning Show back in 1954.
Also, Between the Lions was created by Christopher Cerf, long-time music writer for SST. Many of the puppeteers from Sesame have worked on BTL, and Sesame characters have even appeared in cameo form on the show.

I've yet to add SST, but so far all other productions add up to 3,258 entries.

Plans for version 20 will see addition of the following:
Animal Jam.
Big Bag.
The Dark Crystal.
Dinosaurs.
Labyrinth.
The StoryTeller the TV Series.
The StoryTeller the Greek Myths.

Productions which I'm not sure should be added are:
Between the Lions.
Farscape.
Pajanimals.
Sam Plenty, either on its own or added to Henson Alternative.
Sid the Science Kid.
Unstable Fables.
The reason for the uncertainty is due to my questions regarding these stemming from my visual acuity. When I'm ready to move on to the 20th listings, I'll be sure to come back and ask, as ideally I'd like to have 40 productions as the highlight of Muppet Listings 20 would be the new entries from SST's 40th season.

I wouldn't count shows like "Between the Lions", "The Puzzle Place" and "Wimzie's House" as Muppet projects, besides they weren't really created by the Jim Henson Company or Sesame Workshop. Even though they are puppetry shows.

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Well...given the extremely similar look of Between the Lions to Sesame Street, those wonderful PBS commercials featuring both
Between the Lions and Sesame characters, and the frequent Sesame character guest spots on Between the Lions...I can certainly see *why* people would think they are part of Sesame Workshop.

Between the Lions is a children's puppet series that airs on PBS, designed to promote reading skills. The basic philosophy of the program is to get kids "wild about reading"; this is literalized through the use of a family of lions running a library: Theo and Cleo and their children Lionel and Leona. Although it is not affiliated with The Jim Henson Company or Sesame Street, it does share many similar characteristics, along with some similarities to The Electric Company. It also features many cast and crew commonly involved with Muppet productions.
edit Appearances

* Several Sesame Street Muppets made special guest appearances during the second season

* In "Tweet! Tweet!" which aired on May 1, 2001, Theo and Cleo scoff at the possibility that birds and dinosaurs could be related. They change their minds when Big Bird enters the library, and introduces himself. As he leaves, the camera pans to Ernie, looking up from a book on Humongous Duckies, and Bert, reading about Humongous Pigeons. Both utter their trademark laughs.

* Bert and Elmo also appeared, as celebrity guests, in "Dance with Smartypants" inserts from that season. Credited guest performers for the collective appearances were Caroll Spinney, Steve Whitmire, Eric Jacobson, Kevin Clash, and John Tartaglia.

* Principal characters from Between the Lions joined Sesame Street and The Muppet Show characters in the "We Are Family" music video.

* Several 2006 and 2007 PBS interstitials for the Ready To Learn Service feature Between the Lions characters interacting with Sesame Street characters:

* "Star Finder" spoofs American Idol with Ernie demonstrating his rhyming skills. The judges are Theo, Emily Elizabeth from Clifford the Big Red Dog, and Oscar the Grouch.
* Another stars Leona and Theo. The segment takes place outside the normal realm of the show, and instead is set in a family living room, spoofing the sitcom genre, complete with laugh track. A brief set of credits appear under a voice over making reference to other PBS shows including Sesame Street. The credits include: Camera Operator - Grover; Art Direction - Prairie Dawn; Leona's Body Double - Elmo Monster; Second, Third and Seventh Unit Director - The Count; and, Gaffer - Big Bird.
* In a Mission: Impossible spoof, Cookie Monster recives instructions from Arty Smartypants, a Between the Lions character.
* Grover was paired with Cleo in spoofs of Casablanca and Superman.
* In a West Side Story spoof, Theo and Ernie sing a variation of "The Jet Song." Oscar makes a cameo.

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The co creator of the series is Michael Frith

Michael Kingsbury Frith is the former Executive Vice President and Creative Director for Jim Henson Productions. His contributions to Muppet projects have been extensive and varied.

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One of the top Muppeteers, Peter Linz, performs some of the main characters

Also one of the main people on Between the Lions is Kathy Mullens who "co-created, wrote, played Leona, and served as puppet captain for the first two seasons". Mullens of course is another top Muppeteer alumni

Marty Robinson plays another of the main characters, as well as other main Muppeteer Matt Vogel.

Between the Lions is pretty much top to bottom a Henson/Sesame Workshop concept and production, without being so officially and despite it being wholly concieved outside that realm.

Again, I can see the argument for why some might consider it extremely close to being a Henson/Muppet related endeavor

Corey... Have you not been keeping up with my Muppet Listings threads? They answer the very question you posed here, or at least attempt to. This makes me have to shelve my current counting character creations in order to finish the latest version, the 19th one, which I was planning to post this summer precisely for the anniversary.

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Sir that is amazing! I apologize, I have not seen your thread.
You are by far one of the most amazing historians and minds on here!

And I totally forgot about Pajanimals, Panwapa, and all the 80's to early 90's straight to video specials.
I would say Pajanimals is absolutely Muppets, as would be Sid the Science Kid. Im now reluctant to say Wubbulous World is or Skrumps would be however...due to Skrumps being the work of Jon Chandler's world, and of course Wubbulous being Dr. Seuss.
Farscape, Dark Crystal, Storyteller, MirrorMask and Labyrinth I would unfortunately have to say are not Muppet but "creature shop". My reason for now including Dinosaurs into Muppet worlds instead of merely creature shop, is recognizing the Muppet like interplay, occasional Muppet cameos by background characters,
the fact it's mostly Muppeteers. No other creature shop production is comedic really, and I like how the dvd box set says "And a Jim Henson Company Production" when all previous releases did not feature that.

Notice you added Fraggle Rock animated.... would that include every animated muppet character as well? Characters who appear, let's say, on Muppet Babies, Little Muppet Monsters... and would that also include comic/illustraited characters as well?

Yeah... I'd say no and eliminate FR Animated from that. You could count illustrated/animated characters if you wanted since they can be said to be part of the varying Muppet realms, but for me, if there's no tangibility to them I leave them off of my list. That's why I wouldn't add the RTL cast, though my fondest hopes is that the manga's story gets turned into Labyrinth 2, then justifying all those additions. That's also the reason why I'm unsure about Sid and Unstable Fables... But I'll ask about those once I'm good and ready to move on to ML 20.

BTW: Scary, Scary Monsters? Is that meant to be Little Muppet Monsters?

Notice you added Fraggle Rock animated.... would that include every animated muppet character as well? Characters who appear, let's say, on Muppet Babies, Little Muppet Monsters... and would that also include comic/illustraited characters as well?

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Absolutely. I would say EVERY Muppet character who has ever appeared in animated, comic book or children's illustrated book form.

Yeah... I'd say no and eliminate FR Animated from that. You could count illustrated/animated characters if you wanted since they can be said to be part of the varying Muppet realms, but for me, if there's no tangibility to them I leave them off of my list. That's why I wouldn't add the RTL cast, though my fondest hopes is that the manga's story gets turned into Labyrinth 2, then justifying all those additions. That's also the reason why I'm unsure about Sid and Unstable Fables... But I'll ask about those once I'm good and ready to move on to ML 20.

BTW: Scary, Scary Monsters? Is that meant to be Little Muppet Monsters?

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Scary Scary Monsters is a 1998-1999 Jim Henson Company Muppet offshoot starring Splurge and other monsters in their own Fraggle Rock like world, mostly told through childrens books:http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Scary_Scary_Monsters
Some plushes and merchandise was made, and word had it that
even an animated pilot had been made or was in the works. It has a *very* Fraggle Rock animated look and feel to it.

Anyways, to me Skeeter is a significant enough of a character that I would include her on a list...even though she's only existed thus so far in animated and book form.

I personally wouldn't include creatures from Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, Mirrormask or Farscape as "Muppets" due to them being more or less Creature Shop characters...though, Jim Henson Hour's Muppet Television segments certainly did blur that line.

Ah - the eternal question: "How does one count the Muppets". I congratulate anyone who even attempts such a thing not only due to the large number but by the fact that to even do such a thing, you have to set a large number of parameters which are logistical nightmares, one of them being discussed here is what productions/families/casts do you include and leave out. Not simple since there are so many of those "exceptions" and grey areas. Take Skeeter (since she was recently mentioned) - she's not been made in Muppet form but she has been made in "Poser Muppet" form.

Muppets are continually recycled into different characters - Mopatop's being a good example - do you count those once or twice. Even when a puppet isn't really rebuilt but has a totally different identity, does it get counted once or twice (example: Cookie Monster vs. Arnold) You can decide to leave out Wubbulous World but then you have puppets used in that show that made crossovers into other productions.

And then there's the Whatnots/Anything Muppets - do you include everytime a new Muppet is made up from an AM even if it's just as a one-time background extra?

Ah - the eternal question: "How does one count the Muppets". I congratulate anyone who even attempts such a thing not only due to the large number but by the fact that to even do such a thing, you have to set a large number of parameters which are logistical nightmares, one of them being discussed here is what productions/families/casts do you include and leave out. Not simple since there are so many of those "exceptions" and grey areas. Take Skeeter (since she was recently mentioned) - she's not been made in Muppet form but she has been made in "Poser Muppet" form.

Muppets are continually recycled into different characters - Mopatop's being a good example - do you count those once or twice. Even when a puppet isn't really rebuilt but has a totally different identity, does it get counted once or twice (example: Cookie Monster vs. Arnold) You can decide to leave out Wubbulous World but then you have puppets used in that show that made crossovers into other productions.

And then there's the Whatnots/Anything Muppets - do you include everytime a new Muppet is made up from an AM even if it's just as a one-time background extra?

Maybe put the breaks on Sid the Science Kid and Dinosaur Train, given those are cgi. Heck at this point I'm going to now include Dinosaurs(tho I wouldnt count Storyteller, Labyrinth or Dark Crystal)

Recycled puppets I would say counts, including each incarnation.
Goodness knows Puppet Up/Stuffed Unstrung is recycling puppets from so many different kids shows and obscure one off productions. Wubbulous World is tough, as its part of the Dr Seuss canon. Yet, as you said, it definitely has recycled characters and is quite Muppety.

Some characters began as not being a Muppet(like Jerry Nelson's Puss n Boots) but later were acknowledged as Muppets.